Black, White and Brown

Half of my closet is black. A quarter of my closet is white. A quarter of my closet is brown. The rest is a mix of colors. Many people don’t ever mix the three colors together let alone add navy blue to the mix, but it works for me.

Black and white alone can be very harsh. Brown and denim provide warmth and approachability to the outfit.

Outfit:
Good American Jeans
Veronica Beard Jacket
Vince Camuto Shoes
Belt is unknown
Bar III Shirt

Relaxed Denim with Pinstripe Shirt

I’ve always loved the juxtaposition of clean and classic to distressed and messy. That’s also why I love wearing my hair long and curly most days. It just feels too perfect and stuffy when everything is slicked back and tidy. I think people are more approachable when there’s a little mess. Don’t you?

This outfit is one of my favorites lately. It would look great with a navy blazer added to it too! The shirt is from Old Navy, the shoes are from Vince Camuto, and the jeans are from Free People.

This outfit would go well with black shoes and a black belt too!

Come Join Me at Retail Fest

What would it look like to combine business with the magic of a music festival? Retail Global asked this strangely good question and came up with Retail Fest, and I'm beyond excited to be a part of it. Like many of us, they were tired of typical conferences, and they wanted to create an event with more fun, community, and value for attendees.

This is going to be a fantastic time, and I am thrilled to get to share the imperfect, messy, and sometimes inconvenient brand story of DYPER and how we are changing the traditional diaper game in the retail space to create a better future for our children and planet.

I'll also get to share the stage with my good friend Marcus Murphy whom I have known for over 15 years. We've collaborated on shoots together, created CreativeLive classes together, and now we get to do this. It's going to be a TON of fun!

I also can't wait to learn from Ezra Firestone, Goldie Chan, Emma Grede, Neil Patel, Brett Thornton, Marcus Sheridan, Emmanuel Eribo, and many more...

So, come join me in San Diego on October 4-6 for #RetailFestUSA! Use my code VAILAS30 to get 30% off your ticket! See you there!

Luxury Lifestyle Award Winner

I am beyond thrilled to share that I have been selected as one of the top 50 bloggers and influencers for the 2023 Luxury Lifestyle Awards. It is an honor and a sweet surprise to be recognized, especially since I haven’t been able to blog as often as I would like. This acknowledgment motivates me to share more often in this space.

Sometimes I forget the countless hours of hard work, creativity, and commitment that brought me to this point. It has been 13 years of creating and sharing. So, though being chosen as a top 50 blogger and influencer for the Luxury Lifestyle Awards is a total surprise, I am challenging myself to fully embrace and accept the recognition.

I look forward to sharing more fashion, beauty and life with you all.

A Season of Transformation

A long time ago, when I was 25 years old (I’m 38 now), I had the desire to start a blog. I had nothing earth-shattering to say, but I knew I had something to offer the world. So, I created a tiny corner of the Web for my voice, musings, passions - my life.

This blog led to a styling business which led to becoming an influencer which led to being a full-time blogger and creator which led to becoming a Creative Director which led to becoming a Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing. But most of all, this blog led me to my voice and has been a time capsule of my transformation over 13 years into the woman I am proud to be today.

And though, it’s true that it’s only a snapshot of my life and though there are posts on here that were sponsored by brands that I would not have written organically, the combination of blogging and posting on social media for 13 years is is a long enough time to see watch how someone shows up for life, the choices they make, how they say things…To see their integrity, their intention and their impact.

I don’t know if I will see the full impact of this tiny corner of the internet in my lifetime, but I do know that vulnerability (aka sharing) the wins and losses in my life with strangers has transformed my own life, and that’s enough for me to keep it going. As to how that looks, I’m not sure. But it feels good to dust off my digital desk and say hello.